About

Long Island Classics Stage Company: A Local Globe
The Greeks knew it. Shakespeare himself knew it. They knew the power of theatre and its vitality to their respective culture’s development. Indeed, the theatre was the arena for public debate, the development of ideas, and inquiry into the human condition.

Today, we know that theatre can transform the lives of young people and inspire hope in the spirit of all people.

Long Island deserves live theatre that transcends and inspires individuals and communities so that we may collectively move toward greater awareness and a more global perspective.

But, where and how? The Long Island Classics Stage Company will actively perform in and around the community with the ultimate goal of constructing a permanent home that will become a landmark feature itself.

“The entire theatre, its audience arrangement, its other public spaces, its physical appearance, even its location within a city, are all important elements of the process by which an audience makes meaning of its experience.” – Marvin Carlson, Distinguished Professor of Theatre, CUNY

We aim to create a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre that will provide an authentic and historically accurate arena within which the greatest plays ever written may be performed.

The idea to reconstruct Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre at the original site surely came to many others before Sam Wanamaker began taking the necessary steps toward its realization. In 1970, he founded what would become called the Shakespeare Globe Trust, dedicated to the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. In 1997, it was completed.

We, as Americans, can take pride in this accomplishment since Sam was an American. Sam’s extraordinary achievement stands as an example to what commitment and dedication can create.

Today, the reconstructed Globe Theatre is one of London’s most exciting attractions.

Since its inception in 1997, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has developed into the kind of cultural organization any community would be proud to host. It boasts an educational program that reaches more than 100,000 people “of all ages and nationalities, from pre-school to postgraduates;” a seven-month performance season, research capabilities, and thousands of national and international audience members.

The value that the architecture alone holds is priceless. It exudes integrity, conveys the importance of history, and amazes young and old alike. Further, it makes possible an examination of theatre from a scholarly point of view as it might have been performed during the lifetime of the world’s greatest writer.

The same dream – conceived on a local level – can happen right here on Long Island.